Bicycle saddles and the like are known to comprise a shell having an underside designed to face towards a bicycle frame and a topside designed to face towards a seated user. Comfort elements of the saddle, such as inserts of elastomer, foam or gel and/or cover elements for contact with the seated user are generally attached to the top of the shell.
Bicycle saddle shells are generally formed of a polymeric material such as polypropylene, polyamide, polybutadiene terephthalate or the like. While such polymeric material provides the advantages of having a light weight and a low cost, it exhibits no particularly high mechanical performances.
In view of obviating this drawback, while maintaining the light weight of the saddle, synthetic composite materials have been increasingly used, which are known to comprise a polymeric matrix with a filler including fiberglass, carbon, kevlar® or the like dispersed therein. A few examples of these prior art saddles are disclosed in WO2006046110, WO2006085202, EP-B1-1305203 by the same Applicant.
One drawback of these known solutions is that the synthetic fibers of the composite material are not easily recyclable, which causes the saddle to have a relatively high environmental impact.